Ethics
The conversation surrounding how we report on issues as sensitive as suicide continues. Melanie Coulson, a senior online editor at The Ottawa Citizen, a journalism instructor at Carleton University, and someone who has direct experience with it, looks at the shift in the reporting of suicide over the years.
Let’s face it: There is no easy way to report on a trial in which the details of the rape and murder of eight-year-old Tori Stafford are given. Belinda Alzner looks at the history of the case, the dichotomy between the public's reaction to the coverage and news organizations' understanding of their duty to report it and explains how and why some organizations have decided to take different approaches to their coverage.
It’s been 30 years since Section 2(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms made a free press the law of the land. But, on the eve of a national conference to take stock of the state of press freedom in Canada, Ivor Shapiro sees more apathy than passion around the issue.
National Public Radio in the U.S. released its new ethics handbook late last week. The handbook is an updated version of NPR’s 2003 ethics code, and looked to address shortcomings in the code that had become apparent.
Warning: The following article contains disturbing details. But should it? In the latest issue of the King's Journalism Review, Marie Hanifen explores the delicate balance required to report on sexual assault cases and the point at which including details becomes gratuitous.
He understands why we do it, but Paul Benedetti is having second thoughts about the ethics of interviewing children and youths. Benedetti is an award-winning columnist for the Hamilton Spectator and program co-ordinator for the Graduate Program in Journalism at Western. He’s struggling to put his finger on exactly what’s making him uneasy – but he says his sense of unease is growing.
Mommy blogs have become monetized and it's not hard to see why: Brands embrace bloggers who promote their products, and many bloggers are only too happy to accept compensation to promote brands they were going to be writing about anyway. Ira Basen looks into issues of transparency, ethics and reader expectation that come with accepting payment or products in exchange for words.
As press councils cease operations and news organizations back out, what role do they play in the future of journalism? Lisa Taylor -- a Ryerson journalism instructor, Master of Laws graduate and CBC alumna -- is examining the institutions with Ivor Shapiro for a study requested by Newspapers Canada. She explains to J-Source in more detail what the study will look at.
Will a new libel defence bring business to self-styled experts in media practice? As Rhiannon Russell reports, that’s been the case in Quebec, and the rest of Canada may follow suit.
It's become a familiar, yet unresolved, question: what, if anything, distinguishes an act of journalism from other stuff? Ivor Shapiro has a thought on that, with a little help from the Bard of Avon.
Ethics
edited by ROMAYNE SMITH FULLERTON
Contrary to the old saw, journalism ethics has never been an oxymoron. Most journalists care deeply about their responsibilities toward audiences, sources, subjects and peers. When juggling those loyalties gets hard, the conversation gets going on J-Source's ethics page, which doubles as the Web space of the ethics advisory committee of the 
Canadian Association of Journalists. Romayne Smith Fullerton
is associate professor at the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western University.To contribute, please click on any "comment" box or contact the editor.
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